“The Nirvana experience was such a whirlwind,” he said during the wide-ranging interview with Hot Press. “It all happened so quickly – exploded without any warning. And then it just disappeared. Life had changed so much it was almost like you had to find something to hold onto so that you didn’t get swept away. Once it was over, I couldn’t imagine stepping on stage or sitting down at a drum stool and playing music anymore. It would just bring me back to the heartbreaking place of losing Kurt.”

Grohl talked about dealing with the legacy of Nirvana, stressing his unique perspective from having lived it.

“You have to understand: for me, Nirvana is more than it is for you,” he stressed. “It was a really personal experience. I was a kid. Our lives were lifted and then turned upside down. And then our hearts were broken when Kurt died. The whole thing is much more personal than the logo or the t-shirt or the iconic image.”

He went to reveal how making music served as therapy, as songs he recorded in a random studio planted the seeds that would become the Foo Fighters.

“I felt I had to do it – to exorcise something in my soul,” he said of making the band’s 1995 debut. “The intention of this band from day one has always been to keep the ball rolling: as musicians, as human beings, as friends. To feel like life keeps moving forward. We still feel like that every time we make a record – every time we step on stage. We feel like life is moving forward and that we’re not looking back.”